Pork retains sizzle in loss

Beneficiaries cite benefits as some state lawmakers seek the return of member items

By JIMMY VIELKIND Capitol bureau

Published 12:05 am, Sunday, February 27, 2011

ALBANY -- They generate controversy whenever light shines upon them: millions of taxpayer dollars often derided as pork that legislators distribute in their districts.

But as New York state enters the second year in recent memory without any funding for "member items," the more-generous name afforded the allocations by their backers, some not-for-profit groups that have benefited from the items in the past are lamenting their absence, and legislators who doled them out are pushing to restore them.

"We don't get any other funding from the state, so it's really the only state money we get," said Brad Shear, executive director of the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society. "If it's not there, our ongoing expenses would become higher, and we've got to look other places."

More Information

Member items or pork?

Information includes a lawmaker's share and some beneficiaries.

Assemblyman Bob Reilly, D-Colonie - $185,000

Mohawk-Hudson Humane Society, $7,500

CAPTAIN, $8,500

Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany - $245,000

Schuyler Mansion & Museum, $5,000

Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District, $15,000

Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam - $117,000

Carver Community Center, $25,000

Rotterdam Little League, $4,000

Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes - $265,000

Albany Jewish Community Center, $10,000

Green Island Fire Department, $6,000

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady - $0

"We said we've got to stop buying into the system, because it's not a fair system," Tedisco said. "So we opted out of it, and I'm not sure we can afford this type of luxury right now."

Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna - $250,000 (has spent $138,500)

Ellis Hospital, $12,500

Amsterdam Family YMCA, $5,000

Sen. Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga - $250,000 (has spent $94,000)

Lansingburgh Boys & Girls Club, $6,000

Down Syndrome Aim High Resource Center, $5,000

Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem - $3 million (has spent $2.94 million)

Wildwood Programs, $100,000

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany, $50,000

Shear was awarded $7,500 for the Humane Society's Menands shelter by Assemblyman Bob Reilly, D-Colonie, in 2009. Lawmakers included $170 million of member items in the budget that year, with $85 million each distributed by members of the Senate and Assembly.

The money was used to upgrade to a central heating and air system, which Shear said reduced utility bills by 25 percent. Other grants upgraded kennels to reduce contact between animals, and in turn, stem the spread of disease.

This year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo put forward his $132.9 billion executive budget without including any allotment for member items. Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the Division of the Budget, said Cuomo believes "given the current fiscal crisis, this was not a priority." It's fairly common for a governor to propose a budget without the allotment; often, legislative leaders add the money during back-and-forth discussions over the spending plan.

A budget must be adopted by April 1. The state faces a $10 billion deficit.

Lawmakers added the spending last year, only to see the items vetoed by Gov. David Paterson. Cuomo's proposed budget would make an $85 million deposit in the member item fund to pay out obligations still lingering from 2009, but projects funding will be gone by mid-September.

That's good, say some conservative critics of government spending. They attacked the self-boosting way some grants are awarded, the discretion legislators are given to pick funding recipients and unequal distributions between legislators based on party and tenure of service.

"If they serve a useful and essential purpose, at a time like this especially, they should be part of the regular budget of the agency in the program area concerned," said E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative think tank. "You didn't get it from Joe Bruno, you got it from the taxpayers of New York state. They're all like Bill Gates, like they have their own private, philanthropic foundations."

Legislators like Reilly defended their grant-making, arguing they have a better sense of their constituents' needs than agency bureaucrats.

"If the state agencies can do that, which we indirectly give them the money to support ... we pass the money to do that and empower them to make those grants. How much better to let us directly make grants," he said.

But problems have arisen because not all legislators are perfectly pure of heart. The most egregious recent offender was Pedro Espada Jr., who as a senator unsuccessfully sought over $1 million for a nonprofit group headquartered at the health clinic he ran. Espada has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that he looted the clinic for his personal gain.

Sen. Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, has misgivings about the system -- but he's hardly one to say no to funding for the voters who elect him. "I would prefer not to have any member items, but if you're going to have member items, then I can't shortchange my community," he said. "It puts a lot of stress on the legislator to determine who gets the money and who doesn't. I don't want to be King Solomon."

Now the role of choosing between awful alternatives may fall to community groups. Both McDonald and Reilly have supported CAPTAIN, a Clifton Park-based organization that provides assistance to families in Saratoga County. Previous money has been used to bolster its volunteer base, CAPTAIN Executive Director Sue Malinowski said, and she worries about maintaining that level of staffing without it.

"It's allowed us to serve more people, do more homework help with the kids, restore more bicycles that we can give out to families that can't otherwise afford them," she said.

Guido Iovinella, executive director of the Carver Community Center in Schenectady, said the loss of member item funding will make it harder to run evening youth programs from his inner city perch. (The organization received a $25,000 grant in 2009 from Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam.)

"In today's age it's very difficult. I've been getting cut left and right on all types of programming," Iovinella said. "I don't think the state and the feds are where you should be looking for money now, I think you have to look outside the box in terms of fundraising."

Like Carver, much of the money that has been appropriated to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany is used to support operations, Chief Program Officer Jack Simeone said. It will mean fewer people can participate in the organization's program giving respites to adults caring for ailing parents, or domestic violence prevention and teen pregnancy assistance programs. Since the state has and is spending less money, Simeone fears Catholic Charities is on course for a "double-whammy" of funding cuts.

In 2009, Sen. Neil Breslin -- whose $3 million member item allowance then was the 10th highest in the state -- sent $70,000 to support Catholic Charities' work, and Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari sent $20,000. Neither man was sure what the future might hold.

"I haven't seen the same political will that there has been in other years to make sure they're a part of the process," said Breslin, D-Bethlehem. "I think it's a recognition of the financial crisis, and I would argue they're even more necessary because of the financial crisis."

"I'd like to see them this year because we didn't do it last year, and if we don't do it this year, I don't think they'll ever come back," said Canestrari, D-Cohoes. "They do serve a purpose. It's not a big deal if they're not in this year, but I would not like to see them end completely."